COMMON HERON. 133 



Feltwell, has since maintained a private establishment, 

 and with his two remarkable falcons " De Ruyter" and 

 " Sultan " had many grand nights in the Hockwold 

 country, the Didlington herons, still strictly preserved, 

 have suffered little persecution of late from this cause. 

 Crows, rooks, and jackdaws, as egg stealers and even 

 devourers at times of the young "squabs," may certainly 

 be reckoned amongst their natural enemies ; but of late 

 years the extensive drainage of the " Fen " district, thus 

 limiting their means of procuring food has had far more 

 effect on the numbers of the Didlington herons than 

 could possibly have been effected by the Corvidce gen- 

 erally, which, in like manner, are less numerous than in 

 former times. A very clever sketch by Mr. Carter, 

 taken from the summit of a Scotch fir, overlooking a 

 portion of this extensive heronry, appeared in a recent 

 number of the " Illustrated News,"* and the bird's-eye 

 view thus obtained by the artist of that busy scene 

 is described as most interesting. "On emerging from 

 the deep shade, through the thick matted foliage of the 

 Scotch fir tops, the old herons, alarmed by his intrusion, 

 sailed to and fro anxiously overhead, while the young 

 birds, which had been making a hissing and chattering 

 noise, not unlike that of magpies, suddenly collapsed 

 into silence, and peered cautiously from their nests." 

 Deserted nests were tenanted by other lodgers, such as 

 wood-pigeons, jackdaws, sparrows, and starlings; in 

 one nest was a family of brown owls ; and spotted 

 and green woodpeckers, a wryneck, and a squirrel were 

 also observed amongst the topmost branches. Some ten 

 years ago, as I am informed by Mr. Tyssen Amhurst, 

 the present owner of the estate, owing to the old brush- 

 wood in the heronry (the trees of which were very tall 

 ash) being cut down, the herons shifted their nests, 



* See volume lii., p. 560, with description at p. 566. 



